1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to disk drives, and more particularly, to a locking and ejection mechanism for use in a disk drive, the locking and ejection mechanism minimizing vibrations between the tray and the housing when the tray is secured inside the housing during a play mode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
CD-ROM and DVD disk drives are well-known. For example, CD-ROM disk drives are commonly used within a notebook-size personal computer. A CD-ROM is a type of an optical disk which is capable of storing a large amount of data including programs or database data. The CD-ROM, which is placed in the CD-ROM disk drive, is accessed by a laser pickup of the CD-ROM disk drive so that data is reproduced from the CD-ROM.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a conventional CD-ROM disk drive 20, which includes a tray 22 which is slidably positioned in a housing 23 of the disk drive 20 for reciprocating movement in both an ejecting direction A and an inserting direction B. The housing 23 has a top cover 25 and a bottom cover 28, and the tray 22 includes a chassis 29 that is secured (e.g., by screws) to the bottom of the tray 22. When a disk (not shown) is loaded into the disk drive 20, the tray 22 (with the disk being placed thereon) is manually pushed into the disk drive 20 in the inserting direction B and set at a loaded position in the disk drive 20.
In the disk drive 20, a drive unit (not shown) is provided below the tray 22. A turntable 24 which is rotated by a spindle motor (not shown) is attached to the drive unit, with the disk that is placed on the tray 22 being held on the turntable 24. An optical pickup 26 is coupled to the drive unit for accessing the disk to read out data from the disk.
A locking and ejection mechanism is provided for ejecting the tray 22 from the housing 23. A front bezel 30 is attached to a front end of the tray 22, and includes a rectangular opening which extends laterally in the front bezel 30. An ejection switch 32 is attached to the tray 22 and provided in the rectangular opening of the front bezel 30. When the ejection switch 32 is manually pressed, the tray 22 is ejected from the housing 23 to an ejected position, where the tray 22 at the ejected position can be further pulled out from the housing 23 to a disk-change position by the user. When the tray 22 is set at the disk-change position (as shown in FIG. 1), the tray 22 is completely outside the confines of the housing 23 and the disk on the tray 22 can be removed and replaced with a new one.
A guide rail assembly is provided to guide the movement of the tray 22 in either the inserting direction or the ejecting direction. The guide rail assembly includes a pair of movable rails 34, a pair of guide rails 36, and a pair of slide rails 38. One movable rail 34 is secured to each of the opposing sides of the tray 22 and arranged such that each movable rail 34 is movable with respect to the bottom cover 28. Each guide rail 36 is secured to each of the opposing sides of the bottom cover 28, and each guide rail 36 is arranged on the bottom cover 28 so that the guide rail 36 can extend in directions parallel to the corresponding movable rail 34. Each slide rail 38 is movably arranged between the corresponding movable rail 34 and guide rail 36 so that the slide rail 38 is movable with respect to both the movable rail 34 of the tray 22 and the guide rail 36 of the bottom cover 28. In other words, there is a relative displacement between each set of slide rail 38 and movable rail 34, and between each set of slide rail 38 and guide rail 36. Each set of rails 38+34 and 38+36 slides along its own defined paths.
The disk drive 20 has a locking and ejection mechanism that functions to lock the tray 22 and its play module 40 inside the housing 23 during the play mode, and to eject the tray 22 to the ejected position. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the locking and ejection mechanism has a slide 42 that is attached to the chassis 29. The slide 42 can also move relative to the tray 22 in the directions labeled by the arrows A and B. The locking and ejection mechanism also includes a spring member 44 that has a first or front end 46 that is secured to a portion of the slide 42, and an opposite second or rear end 48 that is secured to the chassis 29. The bias exerted by the spring member 44 ensures that the slide 42 is always pushed in the direction of arrow B. The locking and ejection mechanism also includes a first arm 50 and a second arm 52 that are provided at the front end of the tray 22. The first arm 50 has a generally T-shaped configuration, with a bottom end 54 that is rotatably coupled to a solenoid 56, and an opposing top end 58 that has a protrusion 60 about which a torsion spring 62 is seated. The first arm 50 can pivot about the pivot point 60 defined by the protrusion 60. The second arm 52 has a generally elongated configuration with a side 64 that is adjacent to, and abuts, the top end 58 of the first arm 50. The second arm 52 also has an end 66 that defines a recess. The second arm 52 can pivot about a pivot point 70. A pin 72 is provided on the bottom cover 28, and is normally secured or held inside the recess of the second arm 52 when the tray 22 is secured inside the housing 23 in the play mode.
When the pin 72 is secured inside the recess of the second arm 52, the tray 22 is pushed and locked inside the housing 23 in the play mode. When in the play mode, the tray 22 and chassis 29 are locked inside the housing 23, so that the spring member 44 is stretched. The stretched spring member 44 exerts a bias which biases the slide 42 in the direction of the arrow B.
To release the tray 22 from the play mode to the ejected position, the ejection switch 32 is manually pressed, thereby actuating the solenoid 56, which releases the torsion spring 62 so that the bias of the torsion spring 62 pushes the first arm 50 in a clockwise rotation (as viewed from the top of FIG. 3). The top end 58 of the first arm 50 in turn pushes the side 64 of the second arm 52 in a clockwise rotation, so that the recess is moved clockwise away from its engagement with the pin 72. When the pin 72 is released from the recess of the second arm 52, the natural bias of the spring member 44 will pull the rear end 48 towards the front end 46, pushing the tray 22 out of the housing 23 in the direction of arrow A. FIG. 4 shows the tray 22 in the ejected position, with certain elements (e.g., the solenoid 56) omitted for clarity and illustration purposes. The tray 22 moves relative to the housing 23 along the rails 34, 36 and 38 of the guide rail assembly described above.
Unfortunately, vibrations are commonly experienced by conventional disk drives 20. In particular, the locking point defined by the pin 72 retained in the recess of the second arm 52 contains a moment about which the entire tray 22 can pivot. In addition, since the pin 72 is part of the bottom cover 28, and the second arm 52 is coupled to the chassis 29, any vibrations experienced by the tray 22 when the turntable 24 rotates during the play mode will be transferred via the pin 72 and the bottom cover 28 to the external environment. This external environment can even be the housing of a lap-top or notebook computer if the disk drive 20 is a slim-type optical disk drive. This can lead to undesirable vibrations that can be felt or experienced by the user.
Thus, there remains a need for a locking and ejection mechanism that minimizes the effects of vibrations, and which minimizes the spread of vibrations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a locking and ejection mechanism that minimizes the effects of vibrations, and which minimizes the spread of vibrations.
The objects of the present invention may be accomplished by providing a disk drive that has a tray with a chassis secured to the tray, the tray and the chassis being housed inside a housing. The disk drive includes a slide mechanism that is positioned between the chassis and the tray, and which is movable independently from the chassis. The disk drive also includes a locking and ejection mechanism that includes a first part that is secured to the chassis and a second part that is secured to the slide mechanism. The tray is locked inside the housing when the first part and second part engage each other, and the tray is ejected from the housing when engagement between the first part and second part is released. The first and second parts of the locking and ejection mechanism are not coupled to (i.e., they are independent of) the housing, so that the built-up forces (including the normal bias of the ejection forces) that result at the engagement point between the first and second parts will remain internal, and will not be translated to the housing and beyond to the outside environment.